Oregon


“How Assisted Suicide Laws Endanger People With Disabilities and Chronic Conditions”
(Not Dead YetOregon Assisted Suicide Data Analysis 2023 — March 16, 2023
A disabled or chronically ill person who depends on life-sustaining treatment, even basic medications, would be able to qualify for assisted suicide if they lived where assisted suicide is legal.  Oregon’s “Death with Dignity” law is the model for all  U.S. states.  As an Oregon official has clarified in writing, any person who becomes terminal because they do not receive treatment, for any reason, would qualify for assisted suicide under an Oregon type law.  If the reason they could not get treatment were an inability to afford insurance co-pays, they would be eligible for assisted suicide.

Oregon’s Official Report for Year 25 (2022) was released on March 8, 2023.
According to the report:
…Information on a patient’s state of residence is not collected because residence information would be collected from death certificates and such information from other states would not be available.  Thus, if an patient dies from drugs received in Oregon but taken out-of-state may not be reported. (pg. 5)
…The three most frequently reported end-of-life concerns were loss of autonomy (93%), decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable (92%), and loss of dignity (68%).  (pg. 14)
…Complications are not reported. Information about complications is reported only when a physician or other health care provider is present at the time of death.  The report notes that due to a high number of unknowns about complications, percentages related to complications are not calculated. (p. 15, fn. 7.)
In previous reports, deaths due to anorexia, arthritis and other symptoms were included.  (However that listing was totally eliminated for the latest report. (See 2021 report P. 14, fn.3)

“Oregon ends residency rule for medically assisted suicide”
(AP — March 29, 2022)
“Oregon will no longer require people to be residents of the state to use its law allowing terminally ill people to receive lethal medication, after a lawsuit challenged the requirement as unconstitutional…
“Advocates said they would use the settlement to press the eight other states and Washington, D.C., with medically assisted suicide laws to drop their residency requirement as well.”

Oregon’s Official Report for Year 24 (2021) was released on February 28, 2022.
According to the report:
Only two patients were referred for psychological or psychiatric evaluation (P. 8)
The duration for the patient-physician relationship was as little as zero weeks. (P. 13)
Illnesses with which patients were diagnosed included anorexia and arthritis. (P. 14, fn. 3)
Complications were unknown in 163 of deaths. (P. 13)
The top five reasons for requesting the lethal drugs didn’t include pain or fear of pain (P. 13)

“Lawsuit takes aim at Oregon residency requirement in Death with Dignity law”
(KATU — October 28, 2021)
“As it stands currently, the law requires you to be a resident of Oregon. ‘It does not seem that it really serves a purpose and is a restriction that no longer is needed’ Dr. Nicholas Gideonese said.”
“Gideonese says ultimately it should be the patient’s decision, regardless of where they live.”

Oregon’s Official Report for Year 23 (2020) has been released (February 2021)According to the report, the “terminal diseases” that qualified some patients for the lethal overdose included diabetes, arthritis, arteritis, blood disease, complications from a fall, kidney failure, medical care complications, musculoskeletal system disorders, sclerosis and stenosis. (Pg. 11 and Pg. 13, fn 3.)

Only three out of the 245 patients who received the lethal drug prescriptions were referred for psychiatric evaluation. (Pg. 11)

370 prescriptions for life-ending drugs were written.  One physician wrote 31 of those prescriptions. (Pg. 7)

The law calls for a statutory waiting period between the first and second oral requests but 75 patients (20%) were given an exemption from that waiting period. (Pg. 7)

One patient’s first request took place less than a week before death.  Another took place 1080 days (2.9 years) before death. (Pg.13)

The top five reasons given for requesting the lethal drugs were:
Less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable (94.3%)
Losing autonomy (93.1%)
Loss of dignity (71.8%)
Burden on family, friends or caregivers (53.1%)
Losing control of bodily functions (37.6%)
(Pg. 12)

Inadequate pain control, or concern about it (32.7%), was not in the top five reasons. (Pg. 12)
Note:  There is no differentiation between those who may actually be in pain and those who may may be concerned about that possibility.

Call for expansion of Oregon assisted-suicide law continue
“Diseases result in unbearable pain
(Gazette-Times — May 26, 2020)
“The limitations of the Death with Dignity Act enacted in Oregon continue to leave families in agonizing situations….Even though these degenerative diseases aren’t fatal, they still result in unbearable physical or mental pain and progress to the point of burdening others….The extensive caregiving responsibilities will result in a devastating toll on families through financial insecurity, time constraint and other forms of mental loads.”
[This mentality exhibits the fact that assisted-suicide activists view the “safeguards” in the law  as “barriers” to be removed.]

Oregon’s Official Report for Year 22 (2019) has been released. (February 25, 2020)

According to the report, the “terminal diseases” that qualified some patients for the lethal overdose included diabetes, arthritis, arteritis, blood disease, complications from a fall, kidney failure, musculoskeletal system disorders, sclerosis and stenosis. (Pg. 11 and Pg. 13, fn 3.)

Only one out of the 188 patients who received the lethal drug prescriptions was referred for psychiatric evaluation. (Pg. 11)

290 prescriptions for life-ending drugs were written.  One physician wrote 33 of those prescriptions. (Pg. 7)

One patient’s first request for the prescription took place 1503 days (over 4 years) before the patient took the drugs.

The top five reasons given for requesting the lethal drugs were:
Less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable (90.4%)
Losing autonomy (86.7%)
Loss of dignity (72.3%)
Burden on family, friends or caregivers (59%)
Losing control of bodily functions (39.4%)
Pain or fear of pain (33%) 
Note:  There is no differentiation between those who may actually be in pain and those who may have a fear of being in pain.
(Pg. 12)

Although prescribing doctors are supposed to report whether there were any complications when a patient took the lethal overdose, those doctors were not present at the vast majority of deaths.
In 68% of deaths the number of complications is listed as “unknown.” (Pg. 12)
……………………….
2019 bills introduced in Oregon:
Bills introduced to explicitly expand the definition of “terminal disease,” making thousands of Oregon residents eligible for doctor-prescribed suicide.

HB 2232
Text of HB 2232
As introduced, the bill would explicitly expand the definition of “terminal disease” to include individuals who have “a disease that will, within reasonable medical judgment, produce or substantially contribute to a patient’s death.”
This would make thousands of Oregon residents eligible for doctor-prescribed suicide.
Analysis of HB 2232

HB 2217
Text of HB 2217

SB 579
Text of SB 579

HB 2903
Text of HB 2903
As introduced, the bill would explicitly expand the definition of “terminal disease” to include individuals with “a degenerative condition that will, at some point in the future, be the cause of a patient’s death.”
This would make thousands of Oregon residents eligible for doctor-prescribed suicide.

Scroll down for text of current Oregon law , past official reports, news articles and commentaries

Text of Oregon’s doctor-prescribed suicide law, the Death with Dignity Act.

Link to all Oregon annual reports on assisted suicide

Oregon’s 21st official report  (for 2018) Released February 2019.

According to the report, the “terminal diseases” that qualified some patients for the lethal overdose included diabetes, arthritis, arteritis, sclerosis, stenosis, kidney failure, and musculoskeletal system disorders. (Pg. 11 and Pg. 13, fn 3.)

The top four reasons given for requesting the drugs were:
Losing autonomy (95.1%)
Less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable (95.6%)
Loss of dignity (79.4%)
Burden on family, friends or caregivers (63.6%)
Fewer than 32% indicated pain or fear of pain as their reason.  Note:  There is no differentiation between those who may actually be in pain and those who may have a fear of being in pain. (Pg. 12)

Although prescribing doctors are supposed to report whether there were any complications when a patient took the lethal overdose, those doctors were not present at the vast majority of deaths.
In 68% of deaths the number of complications is listed as “unknown.” (Pg. 12)

IMPORTANT NOTE:  On April 25, 2019, the state of Oregon revised its 2018 annual report without explanation.  The current report (also at the same URL) has new figures.  For example, the new percentage of those who cited fear of being a burden on others was changed from 63.6% to 54%.

Oregon releases 20th annual report on state’s assisted suicide law
(February 2018)

DID YOU KNOW:
You Could Be Considered Terminally Ill Even if You Could Live for Decades

“Oregon’s Death With Dignity Law More Widely Used But Some Physicians Still Skeptical”
(Oregon Public Broadcasting — April 6, 2017)
Because so many physicians won’t prescribe or refer, there’s a small group of physicians that has come to specialize in the [assisted suicide] treatment, including Blanke….Blanke still has a number of questions he wants to be answered.  Some 3.3 percent of cases had unintended complications, including six cases where the patient awakened after slipping into a coma.  Sometimes patients would be in a coma for days before passing away. Blanke wants to examine cases like these to find out if there’s anything to be learned from them and if there are ways families can be warned about he possible complications of the medicine.

“Docs in Northwest tweak aid-in-dying drugs to prevent prolonged deaths.

March 2, 2017
Bill to expand the state’s “Death with Dignity Law” has been introduced in Oregon.
SB 893 would permit an “expressly identified agent” to obtain and administer the deadly overdose of drugs to a patient who ceases to be able to make and communicate health care decisions.

Oregon’s 19th official report on the state’s doctor-prescribed suicide law
Report on Year 19.  Released February 21, 2017.
As in recent official reports, “unknowns” have increased.  In the latest report, the number and types of complications were unknown in 75% of reported cases.  Fear of being a burden on family, friends or caregivers has increased.

“Docs in Northwest tweak aid-in-dying drugs to prevent prolonged deaths.”
(USA Today — February 16, 2017)
The first Seconal alternative turned out to be too harsh, burning patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain….In Oregon, even with fast-acting barbiturates, time to death has ranged from one minute to 104 hours.
More on “Drugs Prescribed for Doctor-Prescribed Suicide”

The official Report for Year 18  on doctor-prescribed suicide in Oregon was released in February 2016.
As in previous years, the number of prescriptions written for assisted suicide has greatly increased.

March 2015
A bill to expand Oregon’s doctor-prescribed suicide law was introduced.
HB 3337 would expand the definition of “terminal disease” in the state’s doctor-prescribed suicide law.  Under the proposal, a patient who is predicted to die within one year — rather than the current six months prognosis — would be eligible to receive the lethal dose of drugs.
However, there seems little reason for expansion of the definition since, according to Oregon’s latest official report, some patients who died in 2014 under the state’s law had received the deadly overdose of drugs more that one or two years earlier.
Some assisted-suicide advocates are opposed to the measure because they believe it could hurt efforts to pass Oregon-style laws in other states.

The 2014 official report on doctor-prescribed suicide in Oregon was released on February 12, 2015.
The number of prescriptions written in the latest report year were 500% greater than those written during the 1st year Oregon’s law was in operation.

Does insurance cover the cost of doctor-prescribed suicide?
When Oregon’s law passed, the state’s  “FAQs about the Death with Dignity Act” from the Oregon Public Health Division (pg. 4) stated:
“The Act does not specify who must pay for the services. Individual insurers determine whether the procedure is covered under their policies (just as they do with any other medical procedure). Oregon statute specifies that participation under the Act is not suicide, so should not affect insurance benefits by that definition. However, federal funding cannot be used for services rendered under the  Act. For instance, the Oregon Medicaid program, which is paid for by federal funding, ensures that charges for services related to the Act are paid only with state funds.”
As of December 1, 2017, the answer to that question has changed.  The final two sentences are deleted, omitting any reference to federal funding not being available to pay for doctor-prescribed suicide drugs. 
The answer to the question now reads:
“The Act does not specify who must pay for the services. Individual insurers determine whether the procedure is covered under their policies (just as they do with any other medical procedure). Oregon statute specifies that participation under the Act is not suicide, so should not affect insurance benefits by that definition.
“FAQs about the Death with Dignity Act” from the Oregon Public Health Division, last revised 12/1/17  (pg. 4).

Execution drug ban affects doctor-prescribed suicide in Oregon.
(May 22,2014)
 Pentobarbital is the drug of choice for both capital punishment and doctor-prescribed suicide.  However, access to the drug has all but ended because European suppliers, opposed to the death penalty, have stopped providing it.

According to a report in Oregon’s Willamette Week, the assisted-suicide advocacy group, Compassion & Choices (formerly called the Hemlock Society), is stepping in.  The organization’s past and present medical directors are seeking to have a compounding pharmacy in Oregon gain permission to manufacture the execution drug.  If approved, the compounding pharmacy would buy the raw material and Compassion & Choices would facilitate its distribution for doctor-prescribed suicide.
CommentC & C has come full circle.  It drafts the doctor-prescribed suicide law.  Then it promotes and finances its passage, hires individuals to encourage its use and, finally, becomes involved in drug distribution for deaths under the law.

……………………………

According to the 2014 official report on doctor-prescribed suicide in Oregon:

  • Eight patients with prescriptions written in 2011 or 2012  died after taking the lethal drugs in 2013.
    [This is well beyond the 6 month life expectancy which is supposed to be a “safeguard” for writing prescriptions.]
  • Of those patients who received prescriptions for doctor-prescribed suicide in 2013, the status of 31 patients is unknown.
  • The 3 most reported concerns of those who received the prescriptions were loss of autonomy, decreasing ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable and loss of dignity.
  • No referrals were made to the Oregon Medical Board for failure to comply with DWDA requirements.
    [If such reports had been made, they would have been examined by the board where, according to the Albany, OR Democrat Herald, Dr. David Grube sat for seven years and for which he remains its interim director.   Grube is a practitioner of doctor-prescribed suicide and has acknowledged writing at least 20 lethal prescriptions.]

A comment from the past:
In 2008, then candidate Barack Obama was asked what he thought of Oregon’s assisted-suicide law.  He responded, “I’m mindful of the legitimate interests of states to prevent a slide from palliative treatments into euthanasia. On the other hand, I think that the people of Oregon did a service for the country in recognizing that as the population gets older we’ve got to think about issues of end-of-life care.”
(Source: Mail Tribune, Medford, Oregon — March 23, 2008)

“Report: Oregon’s suicide rate higher than nation’s”
(Oregonian — May 2, 2013)
New figures showing a sharp increase in suicides across the nation among middle-aged Americans show an even bigger increase in Oregon.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows Oregon saw a 49.3 percent increase in suicides among men and women aged 35-64, compared to 28 percent nationally.
[Note: Oregon’s statistics do not include deaths under the state’s law permitting doctor-prescribed suicide.]

Oregon issues latest official report on deaths under “Death with Dignity Act”
(January 28, 2014)
The number of prescriptions written has increased each year since Act went into effect.
Underlying illnesses making patients eligible for the lethal prescription include diabetes, benign or uncertain neoplasms [tumors], respiratory diseases, viral hepatitis and alcoholic liver disease. (See p. 7, fn. 6)

Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands are the only places in the world that have laws specifically permitting doctor-assisted suicide.

News articles and official reports about doctor-prescribed suicides taking place under Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act” are included on this page.

Barbara Wagner
When Barbara Wagner’s doctor prescribed a drug that would likely extend her life and would make her more comfortable, her state insurance program refused to authorize payment for it.  Instead, it sent her a letter saying it would pay for doctor-prescribed suicide.
“Death Drugs Cause Uproar in Oregon”
(ABC News — August 6, 2008)
The news from Barbara Wagner’s doctor was bad, but the rejection letter from her insurance company was crushing….What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for a physician-assisted death.

Randy Stroup
Randy Stroup who had prostate cancer was also offered doctor-prescribed suicide by the Oregon Health Plan.
“Oregon Offers Terminal Patients Doctor-Assisted Suicide Instead of Medical Care”
Some terminally ill patients in Oregon who turned to their state for health care were denied treatment and offered doctor-assisted suicide instead, a proposal some experts have called a “chilling” corruption of medical ethics.

Kate Cheney
“Physician-assisted suicide: A family struggles with the question of whether mom is capable of choosing to die” 
(Oregon Live — February 4, 2015)
Originally published in the Oregonian in 1999, Oregon Live republished the article on February 4, 2015.
It appeared that dementia was setting in.  And her daughter’s assertiveness about getting the lethal dose for her mother made the psychiatrist wonder whose agenda this really was…There is no single method for evaluating a dying person’s competence to commit assisted suicide or to gauge undue influence. Oregon’s law says the person must be able to make and communicate health car decisions and be aware of his or her medical condition, the risks of using a lethal dose and the feasible alternatives.  A psychological disorder — senility, for example — does not necessarily disqualify a person.

…………….

Text of Oregon’s doctor-prescribed suicide law, the Death with Dignity Act.

Oregon issues latest official report on deaths under “Death with Dignity Act”
(January 28, 2014)
The number of prescriptions written has increased each year since Act went into effect.
Underlying illnesses making patients eligible for the lethal prescription include diabetes, benign or uncertain neoplasms [tumors], respiratory diseases, viral hepatitis and alcoholic liver disease. (See p. 7, fn. 6)
Important Note: 
Advocates of doctor-assisted suicide point to official reports from Oregon, claiming that the data in those reports proves that the law is working well and is free of problems or abuse. However, that claim is subject to skepticism.

Those responsible for issuing official annual reports have acknowledged from the very beginning of Oregon’s assisted-suicide law, that official reports may not be accurate or complete. According to the Oregon Health Division:
“The entire account [given by reporting doctors] may be a cock and bull story.  We assume, however, that physicians were their usual careful and accurate selves.”
Source: CD Summary, Oregon Health Division
(See page two, section titled “Study Limitations.”)

Oregon’s law has become the “model” that is being or will be considered in other states and countries.  As those proposals are under consideration, it remains to be seen whether decision-makers will rely on the deceptively rosy picture painted by assisted-suicide supporters – or on the documented reality of the Oregon Experience.

According to “Suicides in Oregon: Trends and Risk Factors,” published by the Oregon Department of Human Services, the rate of suicide among Oregonians has been increasing since 2000.  In 2007, the age-adjusted suicide rate among Oregonians was 35% higher than the national average.

Note: Assisted-suicide deaths resulting from doctor-prescribed suicide under Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act” are not included in statistics on the state’s suicide rate.

Most Oregon doctor-prescribed-suicide deaths are facilitated by an assisted-suicide advocacy group.

Oregon’s 13th annual report releases the skimpiest annual report yet on assisted-suicide deaths (2/11)

Reported Assisted-Suicide Deaths in Oregon & Washington State – April, 2010 – Chart (PDF)


ARTICLES

Oregon’s Suicide Crisis Worsens
(National Review — March 5, 2020)
Oregon, a state that has considerably liberalized its assisted-suicide laws, has an ongoing youth and general suicide crisis on its hands.
In February the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data showing that suicide was the leading cause of death among Oregon youth ages 10 to 24 in 2018, up from the second leading cause of death in 2017.
More on Suicide Statistics

Promotion of assisted suicide for anyone who wants to commit suicide.
“Legalizing assisted suicide would help counter stigma”
(Eugene Register-Guard — September 27, 2018)
A necessary step to truly remove this stigma [against suicide] is to legalize assisted suicide for everyone.  Why would a person who wants to do something talk to people that will only tell them not to do it and that they are mentally ill?  People need to know that assistance with the act is a real possibility.

U.S. Chronic Pain Practitioners and Scientists Comment on Oregon Forced Taper Proposal”
(National Pain Report — July 31, 2018)
We are a group of concerned practitioners and scientists specializing in pain, addiction, and epidemiology, and experts in public health law and policy.  We recently learned of efforts by the Oregon Medicaid Pain Task Force to deny overage of opioids beyond 90 days for most chronic pain conditions and, effectively, to mandate the taper of current patients receiving opioid therapy.  We believe that such efforts risk doing substantially more harm than good.
More on Pain Control

“Chronic Pain Advocates in Oregon Protest New State Opioid Policy”
(National Pain Report — July 21, 2018)
The Oregon Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) and its subcommittee Value-based Benefits Subcommittee (VbBS) will be submitting their proposed changes to Medicaid to discontinue long term opioids for chronic pain and fibromyalgia.  The changes include forced taper for all chronic pain patients on opioids (within a year), no exceptions….While this policy is aimed at the Medicaid population, organizers believe that whatever policy is adopted will be adopted by every insurance company.
[Irony — Oregon was the first state to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide, permitting a doctor to prescribe a lethal overdose of drugs to certain individuals.]
More on Pain Control

“Oregon’s Death With Dignity Law More Widely Used But Some Physicians Still Skeptical”
(Oregon Public Broadcasting — April 6, 2017)
Because so many physicians won’t prescribe or refer, there’s a small group of physicians that has come to specialize in the [assisted suicide] treatment, including Blanke….Blanke still has a number of questions he wants to be answered.  Some 3.3 percent of cases had unintended complications, including six cases where the patient awakened after slipping into a coma.  Sometimes patients would be in a coma for days before passing away. Blanke wants to examine cases like these to find out if there’s anything to be learned from them and if there are ways families can be warned about he possible complications of the medicine.

“Docs in Northwest tweak aid-in-dying drugs to prevent prolonged deaths.”
(USA Today — February 16, 2017)
The first Seconal alternative turned out to be too harsh, burning patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain….In Oregon, even with fast-acting barbiturates, time to death has ranged from one minute to 104 hours.
More on “Drugs Prescribed for Doctor-Prescribed Suicide”

“NDY Urges AMA to Affirm Longstanding Opposition to Legalizing Assisted Suicide”
(Not Dead Yet — February 15, 2017)
One of the most frequently repeated claims by proponents of assisted suicide laws is that there is “no evidence or data” to support any claim that these laws are subject to abuse…” These claims are demonstrably false.
More on Disability Perspective

“Suicide Groups Control Assisted Suicide in WA/OR”
(National Review — September 15, 2016)
In Washington, a suicide facilitating group boasts its volunteers “assisted 93% of all assisted suicides in the state.”

“Oregon releases its 2016 ‘death with dignity’ stats”
(BioEdge — February 20, 2016)
Oregon is the model for assisted suicide legislation throughout the United States, so its annual “Death with Dignity report for 2015 deserves close scrutiny….For about 80% of the 132 deaths there is no information on how long it took or whether there were difficulties.

“Oregon claim of assisted suicide safeguards has critics”
(CalWatch — October  9, 2015)
A key argument spurring Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent decision to sign a bill allowing physician-assisted suicide in California, and the Legislature’s desire to enact such a law, was that a similar law had worked well in Oregon…But what was rarely acknowledged in the California media is that the Oregon law — while wining positive notices from that state’s media — has a solid core of skeptics who complained of skewed or inadequate data backing up assertions that the safeguards work.

“A Doctor-Assisted Disaster for Medicine”
(Wall Street Journal — August 17, 2015)
“As a professor of family medicine at Oregon’s Health & Science University in Portland, as well as a licensed physician for 35 years, I have seen firsthand how the law has changed the relationship between doctors and patients, some of whom now fear that they are being steered toward assisted suicide.”

“Bill to expand Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act runs into a buzz saw of opposition”
(Oregon Life — March 4, 2015)
Advocates also expressed opposition to Greenlick’s proposal, saying it was unnecessary and would hurt efforts to pass similar laws in other states.
[Note: HB 3337 would expand the definition of “terminal disease” in the state’s doctor-prescribed suicide law.  Under the proposal, a patient who is predicted to die within one year — rather than the current six months prognosis — would be eligible to receive the lethal dose of drugs.
However, there seems little reason for expansion of the definition since, according to Oregon’s latest official report, some patients who died in 2014 under the state’s law had received the deadly overdose of drugs more that one or two years earlier.
Some assisted-suicide advocates are opposed to the measure because they believe it would hurt efforts to pass Oregon-style laws in other states.]

“Brittany Maynard and Lauren Hill will leave very different legacies”
(Irish Times — November 9, 2014)
Another speaker, a respected researcher and oncologist, Prof. Benoit Beuselinck, described a surreal realisation he’s had when a woman requested euthanasia, but also wanted her little dog put down.  He realised ending her life would be uncontroversial, but that animal rights activists would probably prevent him putting the dog down.

“Assisted suicide is bad medicine”
(Sacramento Bee — November 2, 2014)
Why, when listing opponents, did The Sacramento Bee editorial pushing an assisted-suicide law ignore the disability community?  We could be those most affected…. Direct coercion is not even necessary.  Denying, of even merely delaying, expensive, life-sustaining treatment can drive patients toward assisted suicide.  It is a deadly mix with our cost-driven health care system.
Brittany Maynard’s story is tragic.  When you look at assisted suicide through the narrow lens of one individual, it may look acceptable.  But when viewed as broad public policy, assisted suicide is bad medicine.

“A Deadly Campaign Masked as a Personal Decision”
(American Thinker — October 31, 2014)
Imagine that you are standing in line at your supermarket pharmacy. As you wait to pick up your prescription, the pharmacist hands the person ahead of  you a bottle filled with capsules….But this bottle doesn’t contain the usual instructions to take one capsule.  Instead it directs that person to take the entire bottle of capsules, all at the same time.
Then, you overhear the pharmacist explaining, “Open each of these capsules. Put the powder from them into a glass. Then mix it all into a sweet beverage and drink it very quickly to cause death.”

“Blumenauer Pushes for End-of-Life Conversations Again”
(Oregon Publish Broadcasting — October 22, 2014)
Congressman Earl Blumenauer is working to try to allow doctors to bill health insurance companies for end-of-life conversations….Blumenauer is pushing the Obama administration to include his bill in its rulemaking authority, due out by the end of the month.  He tried to include similar legislation in the Affordable Care Act, but it was taken out after a furor erupted over so-called “death panels.”
[Note:  Blumenauer is a strong supported of Oregon’s assisted suicide law.]

“The danger of assisted suicide laws”
(CNN – October 13, 2014)
My heart goes out to Brittany Maynard, who is dying of brain cancer and who wrote last week about her desire for what is often referred to as “death with dignity.”
Yet while I have every sympathy for her situation, it is important to remember that for every case such as this, there are hundreds — or thousands — more people who could be significantly harmed if assisted suicide is legal…At less than $300, assisted suicide is, to put it bluntly, the cheapest treatment for a terminal illness.  This means that in places where assisted suicide is legal, coercion is not even necessary.  If life-sustaining expansive treatment is denied or even merely delayed, patients will be steered toward assisted suicide, where it is legal.

“Death on demand is not death with dignity”
(San Francisco Chronicle — October 13, 2014)
[Palliative care specialist, Dr. B.J.] Miller wonders if in the new world of choice, there still will be a place for “people who are sick and beyond their utilitarian function.”
Brittany Maynard is a beautiful woman.  That’s probably why you’ve seen her so much on CNN.  She represents the fantasy of how we all want to be in the end — wanted, ready and resourceful.  But before  you sign on to her remedy, ask yourself what happens to sick people who don’t have her youthful spirit.

“Brittany Maynard: The Vultures Circle”
(National Review Online — October 9, 2014)
The movement has obviously orchestrated an expensive and very well planned media campaign to use her planned suicide to force open the door to doctor-prescribed death….More than that — and most egregiously — by validating and extolling her self-termination, assisted suicide advocates make it harder for her to back off the ledge….By breathlessly pushing the Maynard story, the media are pushing suicide.  This totally violates media guidelines for reporting suicide stories issued by the world health organization.

“Oregon Will Never Ration Assisted Suicide”
(National Review Online — May 24, 2014)
Oregon explicitly rations health care to its Medicaid recipients.  This means that some patients with terminal conditions have been denied life-extending treatments…Assisted suicide has also been on the rationing list….The Oregon Health Department has now taken it off the rationing list altogether and issued an explicit declaration that, come what may, doctor-prescribed death will always be available to the poor.

“Penalized By The Death Penalty”
(Willamette Week — May 21,2014)
 Pentobarbital is the drug of choice for both capital punishment and doctor-prescribed suicide.  However, access to the drug has all but ended because European suppliers, opposed to the death penalty, have stopped providing it.

According to a report in Oregon’s Willamette Week, the assisted-suicide advocacy group, Compassion & Choices (formerly called the Hemlock Society), is stepping in.  The organization’s past and present medical directors are seeking to have a compounding pharmacy in Oregon gain permission to manufacture the execution drug.  If approved, the compounding pharmacy would buy the raw material and Compassion & Choices would facilitate its distribution for doctor-prescribed suicide.

“New execution protocol similar to doctor-assisted suicide recommended”
(Washington Post — May 7, 2014)
Days after the botched execution of Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett, a bipartisan studying the death penalty has recommended a new one-drug lethal injection method to kill quickly….
The committee urged states to administer an overdose of one anesthetic or barbiturate to cause death — the same method used in doctor-assisted suicides.

“Company blocked from selling execution drug to Mo.”
(Source: Associated Press — February 12, 2014)
A federal judge agreed late Wednesday to temporarily block an Oklahoma pharmacy from providing an execution drug to the Missouri Department of Corrections….[because] it would likely cause “severe, unnecessary, lingering and ultimately inhumane pain.”
[The drug is pentobarbitol which is the same drug that, according to the latest official report, was the lethal medication for  90.1% of doctor-prescribed suicides in Oregon in the last year.]
Official Oregon report for 2013.  See page 6

“Choosing Death with Dignity”
(Corvallis Gazette-Times — January 26, 2014)
Of the 30 requests Dr. David Grube has received for Death with Dignity prescriptions, he has written 20 prescriptions.
Grube says the law has not been abused….”For seven years (2001-08) I sat on the Oregon Medical Board,” he says, and he remains its interim director. “There has not been one single significant violation of the act. No doctor has been disciplined.

“From Eugene to Eugenics: Oregon’s new cost-cutting strategy is to deny care to cancer patients”
(Source: Statesman-Journal — November 6, 2013)
Oregon’s new Medicaid guidelines take treatment decisions out of the hands of doctors and patients and put them in the hands of distant state bureaucrats willing to cut costs no matter the human toll.  It’s the practice of cost-centric controls over patient-centric care.

“Portland’s suicide rate higher than the nation”
(Oregon Live — September 30, 2013)
Every four days, someone in Portland dies from suicide, making the city’s suicide rate almost three times higher than the national rate.
[Note: Doctor-prescribed suicides are not included in the numbers since OR law requires such deaths to be listed as “natural.”]

“Stop a Violation of Health Care Reform In Oregon”
(Huffington Post — September 27, 2013)
In August, Oregon’s Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) voted to approve Revised Guideline 12, Cancer Care Near the End of Life. As a result, starting October 1, patients on Medicaid will not receive life-saving cancer medications if they have certain HERC-determined symptoms…. Furthermore, the Guideline will take clinical decision making out of the hands of doctors and deprive patients their best chance of fighting cancer.
More on Medicaid

“Report: Oregon’s suicide rate higher than nation’s”
(Oregonian — May 2, 2013)
New figures showing a sharp increase in suicides across the nation among middle-aged Americans show an even bigger increase in Oregon.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows Oregon saw a 49.3 percent increase in suicides among men and women aged 35-64, compared to 28 percent nationally.
[Note: Oregon’s statistics do not include deaths under the state’s law permitting doctor-prescribed suicide.]

“Former Vancouver football player making ‘amazing’ progress after head injury”
(Oregonian — December 6, 2012)
Tyler Burton, a 2010 Mountain View High School graduate, suffered a head injury in October that was severe enough for doctors to place him in a medically induced coma.  Doctors at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, Calif, told the 21-year old’s parents that he would soon fall asleep and die. Four surgeries on his deeply wounded brain had had minimal impact. The parents made preparations to donate his organs.

“Oregon awarded $1.9 billion federal funding pact, new flexibility for health care reforms”
(Oregonian — July 8, 2012)
State officials announced that the federal Health and Human Services has granted more flexibility by amending a waiver for Oregon’s transformation initiative, intended to cut costs while improving care to the Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan. 

“Murder-suicide desperation prompts soul-searching in Oregon”
(Washington Post — April 17, 2012)
Murder-suicides are fairly common in Oregon.  Between 2003 and 2011, 183 people died in 81 events, according to Oregon Public Health Division statistics.

“Assisted suicide”
(Salt Lake Tribune — January 19, 2012
I have been a cancer doctor in Oregon for more than 40 years. The combination of assisted-suicide legalization and prioritized medical care based on prognosis has created a danger for my patients on the Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid).
The plan limits medical care and treatment for patients with a 5 percent or less likelihood of surviving five years. Patients in that category who have a good chance of living another three years and who want to live cannot receive surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy, However, the plan will cover the patient’s suicide.

“Alarming increase in suicides”
(The Oregonian — October 12, 2011)
The number of suicides in Oregon — which has a suicide rate 35 percent higher than the national average — keeps climbing…State officials who track suicides aren’t sure what’s driving Oregon’s rate.

June 2011:
Following the death of a 29-year old Oregon man who used a helium hood suicide kit he obtained by mail order, the Oregon legislature approved SB 376, making it a crime to assist suicide by knowingly selling or transferring for consideration a substance or object for the purpose of assisting the suicide death of another person. 
However the law explicitly states that it does not apply if the person assisting the suicide is acting in accordance with Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act (ORS 127.800 to ORS 127.897.

“How to Die in Oregon — or how to sidestep hard questions”
(Washington Post — May 27, 2011)
Thursday night, HBO aired “How to Die in Oregon,” the winner of this year’s Grand Jury Prize in the documentary category at Sundance. The film, though emotionally powerful, is intellectually flabby, repeatedly shirking weighty questions surrounding the end of life.

“Suicide kits rekindle debate on assisted suicide”
(Fox News — May 26, 2011)
The door to the room was locked and there was no response as Jake Klonoski looking for his younger brother.  He picked the lock and made a grim discovery: his dead brother lying on his bed, his head covered in a plastic bag connected to a helium tank. He had gassed himself to death using a suicide kit he learned about online and ordered through the mail from a woman in California.  But the laws are often vague and provide little detail as to what “assist” or “aid” means.

Doctor-assisted suicide: Annual report raises more questions than answers”
( Oregonian – – February 11, 2011 )
The report lists that there was “unknown information” for 50 to 70 percent of deaths for the following categories: whether the doctor was present when the drugs were ingested, if there were complications, if emergency services were called, and the time between ingestion to unconsciousness and to death. When such a substantial proportion of important information is unknown and with much incomplete information, how are we to know what is really happening with doctor-assisted suicide in Oregon?

Oregon long-term care residents in jeopardy (12/3/10)
Oregon’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program – required by Federal law to protect the rights of patients in long-term care facilities – is ranked dead last among all 52 states and territories.

“Oregon Medical Board suspends doctor who wants to open a Portland facility where the terminally ill can die under the assisted-suicide law”
( Oregonian – – June 24, 2010 )
Following publicity about his planned assisted-suicide clinic, Portland psychiatrist Stuart Weisberg’s medical license was suspended Thursday amid an investigation that he had wrongly authorized a medical-marijuana card for a drug addict and had improperly prescribed a different drug for another patient.

“For $5,000, Get Package Deal at Death Clinic”
( ABC News – – June 24, 2010 )
Stuart Weisberg, a Portland psychiatrist, plans to open an assisted-suicide clinic where people can kill themselves under Oregon’s Death with Dignity law. For $5,000, eligible patients can book a death – complete with catering, music and flowers.

“Portland doctor plans house where terminally ill can kill themselves”
( Oregonian – – June 23, 2010 )
Stuart Weisberg, a Northwest Portland psychiatrist who the state reprimanded for wrongly prescribing drugs, plans to open an assisted-suicide clinic. Weisberg filed incorporation papers with the state on June 2. He has invited Jack Kevorkian to be present at a July invitation-only dinner.

“Cornering the market on physician-assisted suicide”
(Oregonian — March 10, 2010)

What have we learned from 12 years of physician-assisted suicide in Oregon?  Compassion & Choices (formerly called the Hemlock Society) has the corner on the market for physician-assisted suicide.  It was involved with 97 percent of the reported deaths in 2009.  All citizens should be concerned regarding the controlling influence of this organization.

Eleven Years of Assisted Suicide in Oregon (08/09) (PDF)
Fully documented fact sheet with official statistics. Includes:
What can be learned from eleven years of official reports from Oregon? What is not contained in the official reports? How accurate and complete are those reports? What can be learned from statements of those who are most involved in implementing and reporting about the Oregon law?

Chart: Statistics of 11 Years of Assisted Suicide under Oregon’s Law (PDF)

“The chilling truth about the city where they pay people to die”
( Daily Mail – UK – August 8, 2009 )
Lord Joffe is working to pass an assisted-suicide law in the UK. He and other activists point to Oregon as a model, saying it ”clearly works” there. But the facts do not support that claim. More

“‘Right to die’ can become a ‘duty to die'”
( Telegraph.co.uk – London, England – February 21, 2009 )
Vulnerable people can be bullied into assisted suicide… Oregon has become the model for how assisted suicide is supposed to work. But for those who dig beneath the sloganeering and feel-good propaganda, it becomes clear that legalising assisted suicide leads to abandonment, bad medical practice and a disregard for the importance of patients’ lives.

“Oregon assisted suicide at record high”
( Seattle P-I – Seattle, WA USA – January 9, 2009 )
Advocates of the new Washington law that will soon allow terminally ill patients to end their lives through lethal drugs expect Oregon’s near-identical law to account for a record 55 deaths there in 2008. More

Depressed patients are receiving prescriptions for assisted suicide in Oregon.
(British Medical Journal. (Oct. 8, 2008)

“An Open Letter to Baroness Warnock on Assisted Suicide” (American Thinker; Oct. 4, 2008)
When she said people with Alzheimer’s should be able to appoint someone to request euthanasia for them, Britain’s leading medical ethicist, Baroness Mary Warnock, caused a firestorm of controversy. A similar, but little known, proposal was made by those in the forefront of Oregon’s assisted-suicide law and the current Washington State initiative to legalize assisted suicide.

“Assisted suicide: Conspiracy and control” (Oregonian; Sept. 24, 2008)
“Members of Compassion & Choices authored and proclaim they are the stewards of Oregon’s assisted-suicide law….They have arranged and participated in 3/4ths of Oregon’s assisted-suicide cases.”

“Washington state’s assisted-suicide measure:  Don’t go there” (Oregonian; Sept. 20, 2008)
“Oregon’s physician-assisted program has not been sufficiently transparent.  Essentially, a coterie of insiders run the program, with a handful of doctors and others deciding what the public may know.”

“Oregon’s Suicidal Approach to Health Care” (American Thinker; Sept. 14, 2008)
Oregon seems to have found a surefire way to lower health care costs:  Tell the patient you’ll pay for drugs that will end her life, but not those that would extend her life.  Here’s how it works.”

“Death Drugs Cause Uproar in Oregon”
(ABC News — August 6, 2008)
The news from Barbara Wagner’s doctor was bad, but the rejection letter from her insurance company was crushing….What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for a physician-assisted death.

“Fix this medical ethics glitch”
(Source: Oregonian; Portland, OR; July 29, 2008)
Oregon’s willingness to pay for assisted suicide, but not for treatment, creates an ethical quagmire.  “As the only state that both allows assisted suicide and tries to ration health care, Oregon has created a fine ethical line for state officials to navigate.  In this case.  They stepped over it.”

Oregon Health Plan refuses to pay for prescribed treatment, but tells patient it will pay for assisted suicide if she chooses it. “A Gift of Treatment” (Register-Guard; Eugene, OR; June 3, 2008)

“Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon: A Medical Perspective,”
Herbert Hendin, M.D. and Kathleen Foley, M.D. (Michigan Law Review, Vol. 106; 8, June 2008)

Oregon’s assisted-suicide law: Revealing Quotes from Those in the Know” (PDF)
Documented statements made by assisted-suicide advocates shed light on the assisted-suicide agenda. (3/26/08)

Oregon Statistics
Chart – “10 Years under Oregon’s Assisted-Suicide Law.” (2008)

Ten Years of Assisted Suicide in Oregon
What can be learned from the first ten years of official reports? What can be learned from the statements of those who are most involved in implementing and reporting about the Oregon law? (Fully documented fact sheet, including official statistics. (3/20/08)

Tenth Official Report on assisted suicide in Oregon. (3/18/08)

The Oregon Experience
The words of those who implement Oregon’s law, compile official reports about it, or prescribe the lethal drugs clearly show that the so-called safeguards are not protective and that monitoring of assisted suicide is close to non-existent. (3/06)


Oregon’s Assisted Suicide Law
Text of Oregon’s “Death with Dignity” law.


Articles and Analysis:

“Emotional and Psychological Effects of Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia on Participating Physicians” by Kenneth R. Stevens, Jr., M.D., FACR
“Many doctors who have participated in euthanasia and/or PAS are adversely affected emotionally and psychologically by their experiences.” (5/06)

Proof of Failed Assisted-Suicide Safeguards in Oregon
Depressed patient given prescription for lethal drugs.  (Paper delivered at American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, 5/6/04)

Oregon’s 3rd Annual Assisted-Suicide Report: More of the same
The most recent official report contains the same flaws as reports for previous years.(4/01)

Oregon psychologists polled on assisted suicide and state’s PAS law (7/99)

Oregon report on end-of-life care shows need for improvement (7/99)

Oregon PAS law spun to look good
Oregon Health Division says reported information may be “cock and bull story” (3/99)

Oregon death highlights discriminatory side of PAS law
Now it’s the “purpose” of the law (death) that counts, not the “safeguards” (3/99)

Oregon issues sketchy first report on assisted suicide deaths
Assisted suicide supporter admits many cases may be going unreported (10/98)

Federal judge dismisses latest challenge to Oregon’s law
Judge Michael Hogan states that Oregon’s law my be incapable of judicial review( 9/98)

Congressional bills to ban lethal prescriptions spark debate
Excerpts from debate on bills to prohibit prescriptions of controlled substances for assisted suicide. (7/98)

Reno reverses DEA ruling
Attorney general says DEA will not take action against doctors who intentionally prescribe fatal doses of controlled drugs under the provisions of Oregon’s assisted suicide law.(6/98)

Guidelines for assisted suicide in Oregon
State will fund lethal prescriptions (3/24/98)

November-December 1997 IAETF Update
Documented Special Report on the Oregon vote and its aftermath (1/15/98)

Special Report: Oregon Takes a Closer Look at Assisted Suicide
In depth look at the campaign to repeal Measure 16 (10/25/97)

Flaws in Measure 16
Documented information about flaws in Oregon’s assisted suicide law (10/25/97)

Liar, Liar
Bigotry and Fraud in the Oregon campaign to repeal Measure 16 (10/19/97)